1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of recreation for children and even adults and, more particularly, the invention refers to a building toy comprising a plurality of building pieces and connectors for connecting the pieces to each other and forming flexible constructions and structures, either plane or tridimensional structures, for making up houses, towers, bridges, cars, vehicles, planes, helicopters, and any other kind of constructions, preferably toy constructions.
To the purpose of the present specification the term xe2x80x9cflexiblexe2x80x9d, when used for the hollow tubular pieces or tubes of the toy, must be understood as that the tubes are capable of being easily curved either maintaining its curved status or with elastic memory to return to its original configuration under relaxed condition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to provide several types of building toys comprising modular pieces. These toy may be classified in several categories such as for example:
The classical toy know as xe2x80x9cmeccanoxe2x80x9d comprised of a set of pieces having several shapes, such as plane pieces, angled pieces or a combination of both, generally manufactured as metal plates with a plurality of orifices for receiving screws to connect the pieces to each other and make up houses, mechanical assemblies, bridges, towers and machines in general, etc. More precisely, the connections are carried out by means of screws, nuts and washers and several other fittings and accessories are provided, such as wheels, shafts, pulleys, etc. capable of being connected to each other and to the remaining pieces by using auxiliary pieces and members.
There are also known systems based in modular elements, similar to small bricks or blocks, capable of being fitted one into the other under a slight pressure in order to obtain constructions of several designs, generally cubic or house-like constructions. These toys usually are provided with a plurality of auxiliary pieces such as plates, roofs, windows, such as the one manufactured under the trademark xe2x80x9cLEGOxe2x80x9d. Other toys that can be included within this type are those comprising a plurality of cylindrical bar having several lengths and provided with grooves and notches at their ends whereby the bars can be connected to each other by snugly interconnecting the grooves thereof to form houses, towers, bridges, etc.
Another kind of construction toy is the typical set of pieces for assembling mini models of ships, cars, planes, animals, trains, etc. wherein the pieces are each designed to form a part of the construction at a desired scale and the pieces must be assembled to each other by using an adhesive. In these toys, the pieces are precise reproductions in miniature of the corresponding parts or elements of the construction to be obtained. These toys, once assembled, generally remains permanently assembled and can not be disassembled because the constituent pieces are not detachable.
Other construction systems are designed to make up only one predetermined construction. Differing from the above model system, this system comprises a plurality of pieces that can be assembled and disassembled, with each piece having a specific design to match with the other pieces and can occupy only one position in the construction in order to make up the predetermined design of car, house or plane, for example. The pieces can mesh or fit together directly or by means of connectors, and can be interconnected by pressure or threading. This kind of building toy is commercially available under the trademark xe2x80x9cFAVRExe2x80x9d.
While the above building toys have provided, even during the last decades, a number of possibilities of constructing several designs in constructions, the same are affected by several limitations.
The above mentioned xe2x80x9cMeccanoxe2x80x9d building toy is limited to very small construction because its constituent pieces, rigid and stiff, either made of metal or wood, would be very heavy if manufactured with larger sizes thus causing the toy being unable of being manipulated by a child. In addition, the small constituent pieces and accessories, like screws, nuts and washers, are dangerous for small kids.
The building toys comprised of very small blocks or bricks are also restricted to small constructions and are affected by the same safety drawbacks like the above system. If one desires to make a larger construction an extremely high number of pieces should by used, otherwise, to count on a reasonable number of pieces, the pieces must be of a larger size and the weight of the entire set of pieces and the final construction would be inconvenient for the manipulation by a kid. Also, with such larger sizes, much more force would be required for a kid to fit each brick into the other.
A child using a building toy for obtaining models are only able to make a predetermined construction, such as a ship, a plane, etc. without allowing the children to put their creativity in practice.
It would be therefore convenient to have a building system that is light, flexible, that allows a kid to make up even a large construction such a house capable of receiving the child thereinto, and capable of being assembled and disassembled, only restricted to the child creativity.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a building toy comprising a plurality of building pieces and connectors for connecting the pieces to each other and forming flexible constructions and structures, either plane or tridimensional structures, for making up houses, towers, bridges, cars, vehicles, planes, helicopters, and any other kind of constructions, preferably toy constructions larger than the typical toy constructions, the inventive toy being light and flexible to be easily manipulated by children, promoting the children""s creativity to design the desired construction, only requiring a minimum skillfulness for manipulating and connecting the tubes.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a building toy comprising a plurality of flexible and stiff pieces and connectors capable of being connected to each other in a desired pattern to form constructions like buildings, cars, forts, planes and other recreation arrangements, the toy comprising a plurality of flexible hollow tubes connectable to each other by means of connectors than can be snugly fitted into the hollow ends of the tubes only applying a slight pressure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a building toy comprising a set of pieces and connectors for matching and connecting into desired constructions, the toy comprising a plurality of hollow tubes made of a resilient flexible material, a plurality of connectors, each connector comprising a connecting node and at least two connecting pegs, each peg for fitting into an end of respective hollow tubes, whereby the plurality of tubes can be connected to each other to form the desired construction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a building toy for making up large volume constructions and structures, forming reticular spatial structures, capable of being curved and deformed, for obtaining straight and linear structures or curved structures, the toy comprising a plurality of flexible hollow tubes that can be stiffened by stiff bars in order to combine curved tubes and straight stiff tubes.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be better understood when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and description.